Two reports out just ahead of Facebook’s Q3 2012 earnings call paint a picture of plummeting CPCs for ads on the social network. The average cost per click for Facebook ads in Canada and the US has fallen back to 2010 levels, according to TBG Digital.

This quarter, they report, the average CPC fell 40 percent in the United States and 27 percent in Canada. Spruce Media puts the CPC decrease at 18.2 percent, compared to Q3 2011.

It’s not all bad news, says Spruce Media. Click-through-rates have increased at a faster rate; advertisers are seeing improved performance per ad viewed, making CPMs worth more to advertisers. CPMs have increased 27.5 percent YoY, while CTRs are up 57.2 percent. In the United States, they report, CPMs rose 40.5 percent while CTRs rose 61.1 percent.

“From a Facebook perspective, the increase in CPMs is good news,” Spruce Media’s Justin Kistner writes of his findings. “Increased CPMs means they are increasing their revenues per impression. If Facebook is maintaining their inventory sell through rate, then it should equate to more revenue per user,” he explained.

TBG Digital expects CPCs to increase, noting, “High click-through rates provided by News Feed ad placements have meant that advertisers do not have to spend as much. This may have had a positive effect on CPCs. Expect to see CPCs rise as competition for inventory increases.”

TBG Digital and Spruce Media each evaluated billions of Facebook ad impressions for their reports.

This week, both LinkedIn and Facebook are beefing up their paid social offerings in different ways, while Google seeks to cut off Adwords revenues for fake news sites. And might Google be favouring desktop over its own AMP in its upcoming mobile-first index?

Here we’ll take a look at the basic things you need to know in regards to search engine optimisation, a discipline that everyone in your organisation should at least be aware of, if not have a decent technical understanding.